I use D-Ban which is good program but it takes so long. It takes about 7-9 hours to Erase my two 500gb harddrives. Are there any other programs that I can burn to a cdr that work much quicker at erasing harddrives and do a decent job at erasing? Thanks

I don't know of any software for that purpose, but it *will* take that much time as it overwrites the information on the drives so it will be impossible for other people to retrieve your private files. If you aren't concerned of this, you could just simply delete the partitions, I guess.

if you want to erase EVERYTHING (including the windows files that are required for the computer to work) then go to command prompt, type "format C:" and "y" and everything will be baleeted instantly. everything. meaning your computer won't even start. use as a last resort

At 3/18/13 11:28 AM, kanef wrote:
if you want to erase EVERYTHING (including the windows files that are required for the computer to work) then go to command prompt, type "format C:" and "y" and everything will be baleeted instantly. everything. meaning your computer won't even start. use as a last resort

Will this Method get rid of viruses and spyware? I have something stupid on my pc that isn't being picked up by Avast-Free or Malware bytes that crashes Windows every so often. It says Windows has experienced a problem and then crashes the desktop and than desktop goes back to normal a second later. I hope i dont have a harddrive issue.

At 3/18/13 12:29 PM, TheKlown wrote:
Nothing, but if they can find stuff on your harddrive from a simple erase, what is to say a virus or malware can't survive some how? Get where I'm coming from or no?

if you want to erase EVERYTHING (including the windows files that are required for the computer to work) then go to command prompt, type "format C:" and "y"

Will this Method get rid of viruses and spyware?

Formatting gets rid of practically every scrap of data on the hard drive. Every bit of software, the operating system, every file. Everything.

If it really gets rid of everything, then how come FBI can still find remains of stuff, or is that a Myth to scare people?

Yes, it does get rid of everything, but like I said in my previous post, files can still be "retrieved". When you permanently delete a file on your computer, it doesn't really erase it. It just frees up the harddisk sectors to be overwritten by other data.

I don't think it's worth it to erase a harddrive due to malware. I can't imagine why that would be necessary. Just reformat your harddrives like everybody else does.

At 3/18/13 12:39 PM, KevinHR wrote:
Yes, it does get rid of everything, but like I said in my previous post, files can still be "retrieved". When you permanently delete a file on your computer, it doesn't really erase it. It just frees up the harddisk sectors to be overwritten by other data.

You can get stuff on the internet that erases all the freed sectors with one file.

I don't think it's worth it to erase a harddrive due to malware. I can't imagine why that would be necessary. Just reformat your harddrives like everybody else does.

At 3/18/13 12:25 PM, TheKlown wrote:
If it really gets rid of everything, then how come FBI can still find remains of stuff, or is that a Myth to scare people?

What exactly are you trying to hide?

Nothing, but if they can find stuff on your harddrive from a simple erase, what is to say a virus or malware can't survive some how? Get where I'm coming from or no?

I just got deja vu, have you made this thread before? I had to check the post date to make sure.
Anyway, if you were caught doing something illegal they still have your history and they can access it through your internet provider.
As far as reformatting your hard drive make sure you have a back up of your operating system. If not get Linux until you can afford to repurchase your current operating system.

There are no quick ways to really erasing data on harddrives, and they still aren't all that secure if someone really really really wants to extract the data. The best option would be destroying the drive physically, or with strong magnets.